By LEANDRA ROLLE


Tribune Staff Reporter


lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Official Opposition yesterday slammed the measures outlined in the Minnis administration’s 2020/2021 budget to aid the country’s economic recovery amid the COVID-19 crisis, branding it as “the worse budget communication in living memory.”

Progressive Liberal Party Deputy Leader Chester Cooper said the government’s failure to implement “common sense fiscal measures” has led to the country’s current “precarious financial” situation.

“The precarious financial situation we find ourselves into today has less to do with the hurricane and COVID-19. However, it represents the cumulative impact of a series of bad fiscal decisions over the past three budget cycles,” he said.

“Had this administration not exacted such misery on the Bahamian people, under the guise of fiscal responsibility and instead focused on job creation and economic growth, we would be better prepared to deal with the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath,” he said.

“The Minnis administration has squandered the past ten weeks by failing to implement the common-sense fiscal measures that the party and myself outlined months ago.”

His comments came after Finance Minister Peter Turnquest delivered the government’s 2020/21 Budget Communication in the House of Assembly yesterday, outlining a number of measures to provide economic support amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

These measures include a ‘back-to-school’ VAT holiday on school supplies, a $48 million-dollar allocation for continued unemployment assistance and a temporary incremental monthly increase of $50 in the old age pension.

However, calling yesterday’s budget communication “unimaginative”, “unimpressive” and “unbelievable”, Mr Cooper said the government’s economic handling of the pandemic has made matters worse in the country “than they ought to have been.”

He added: “Businesses that did not need to close remained closed, hampering revenue generation for a cash strapped government. Islands that don’t need to be closed continue to be closed, continuing to deepen the crisis in these islands.

“Services that could’ve been an economic boon like the real estate sector were not allowed to conduct business. In the communication given, we see this administration has decided to take some advice from the PLP and has started to focus more on people.”

He continued: “Now, the FNM wants to beef up NHI after railing against it and treating it like an unwanted child. The new monies allocated to social services budget increase are not robust enough and quite frankly is a slap in the face of Bahamians after cancelling RISE and reducing other programmes like uniform assistance.”

The shadow finance minister was also critical of the Minnis administration’s decision to borrow more funds from international agencies, saying their lack of planning and “reckless” borrowing has led to the “biggest deficit and debt level” in the country’s history.

Earlier this week, Mr Turnquest announced that the government had applied to take advantage of a low-cost emergency loan facility available to member countries of the International Monetary Fund.

Mr Turnquest said the loan would come with no strings attached, referring to IMF structural adjustment requirements.

However, to this, Mr Cooper said: “We are hard in hand, having to accept its no strings attached offer, and this is usually where it begins. We fear that the Bahamas will have to enter into a structured lending programme which will happen before this administration is voted out of office in 2022.”

He continued: “So, now when you hear IMF, I want you to remember that IMF stands for - ‘It’s Minnis’ Fault’. We told this administration to borrow wisely, borrow to invest in Bahamians and in less than three years, they borrowed more than $3 billion gross and close to $1.5 billion net with nothing to show.

“…Instead of borrowing to pay bills that could’ve amortised, they could’ve borrowed to invest in agriculture and fisheries. We warned the government to leave some borrowing headroom on a rainy-day fund for days like this, but they did not, hence another downgrade of our sovereign credit rating. And now we find ourselves in the embrace of the IMF.

During his address, Mr Cooper also called for more planning by the government as it relates to restoration of Grand Bahama and Abaco, which were devastated by Hurricane Dorian last year.

The Exuma and Ragged Island MP said: “The budget communication (yesterday) was uninspiring, unimaginative, unimpressive and quite frankly unbelievable. This was not a communication worthy of a minister of finance.

“The minister of finance must simply be truthful about the realities. We did not need a political rallying speech, but a simple factual statement on the economy without embellishments.”